Marlins fans kicked out of Marlins game for protesting Marlins

10:10 AM, April 9, 2013
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Fans stand during the singing of the National Anthem before the start of a baseball game between the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves, Monday, April 8, 2013 in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) ORG XMIT: OTK / Wilfredo Lee AP

by Ted Berg, USA TODAY Sports

by Ted Berg, USA TODAY Sports

Miami fans stand for the national anthem on Monday (PHOTO: Wilfredo Lee/AP)

With a brand-new, taxpayer-funded stadium in Little Havana, a payroll shaved in half from its 2012 high by an ongoing fire sale, and an owner accused by fans and former players alike of lying about the team's intent to contend, the Marlins don't really seem like they're in a great position to alienate the few remaining passionate fans they have.

But the club worked to do exactly that at their home opener on Monday. A group of fans calling themselves "Rage Against the Marlins," walked the stadium's concourses holding signs and wearing t-shirts protesting owner Jeffrey Loria's stewardship of the franchise, featuring slogans like, "Free the Marlins" and "Marlins Baseball: Helping other teams get better since 1998."

Before they even got to their seats, they were ejected from the park. Team president David Samson told reporters that they were escorted out for "creating a disturbance" and for refusing to show their IDs to police when asked. Samson said their signs and t-shirts were "not the issue."

We were drawing no more attention to ourselves than anyone else casually walking to our seats, people wanted pictures with us and thought the sign and our shirts were awesome, how was that our fault?

Finally we were so calm with the cops it was unreal, they even said, "Its not us its from above, if it was up to us you guys would go free, because you have done nothing wrong"

So to make it sound like we got kicked out because we would not calm down and not show ID is a lie. David Sampson also implied that we had drank too much but we hadn't even gotten to our seats. We had no time to drink!!! Not like we would pay for drinks there anyway. I wish we could go to court over this.

The site claims the ejected fans were not even asked for IDs until they were already ushered out of the stadium, adding, "People Need To Be Treated With Respect, this is America Freedom of Speech."

It's hard to know whom to believe in the spat. On one hand, it's within the Marlins' rights to eject fans from the park at their discretion, and it's hard to imagine a club bouncing fans for no good reason. On the other hand, they're the Marlins. Given the number of accusations against the team's integrity and its recent history of alienating dedicated fans, it's difficult to assume the club always has the best interests of the paying customers in mind.

According to Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, who reported on the fans and their ejection, the Marlins announced a crowd of 34,439 for the home opener but expect to sell fewer than 15,000 tickets for Tuesday night's tilt against the Braves.